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November 13, 2010

WikiLeaks Registers New Company In Iceland

by Sam Savage

According to a spokesman with the whistleblower organization WikiLeaks, the company has registered in media-friendly Iceland its first known legal entity -- a business that currently has no ongoing activity.

WikiLeaks is now considering whether to use the firm for fundraising or for information gathering, Kristinn Hrafnsson told AFP.

"We want WikiLeaks to have a global presence and having a business in Iceland is part of this plan," said Hrafnsson of the new unit, called Sunshine Press Productions.

He said the entity has been registered as a business in Iceland"¦ "but we don't have an office or activity at the moment."

The new business is WikiLeaks' first known legal presence in a country, though its Internet site functions thanks to servers based in Sweden.

Iceland has been considering far-reaching freedom of information legislation and counts among the countries where WikiLeaks has its most solid foundation.

In June, the country's government voted unanimously in favor of the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative (IMMI), a decree developed with help from Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks. Assange regularly travels to Iceland and aims to protect investigative journalists and their sources in that country.

Wikileaks, which has been heavily criticized for releasing sensitive classified US war documents, has said its people have come under pressure and have even been harassed. Assange, last week, announced he was considering requesting asylum and basing his website in neutral Switzerland.